Disaster Risk Management Networks & Communities

Africa-Asia drought risk management peer assistance network

Recognizing the increasing threats of extreme climatic events worldwide, the UNDP/DDC has launched the Africa-Asia Drought Risk Management Peer Assistance Network (AADP), with financial support from the Government of Japan. This Network was formulated as part of the three-year Africa-Asia Drought Risk Management (DRM) Peer Assistance Project (2010-2013). The objective of the project is to mitigate the risks of drought and improve human livelihoods in Africa and Asia by creating an enabling environment for inter-regional knowledge sharing among drought-prone countries and facilitating the up-scaling of proven DRM best practices in the two regions.
A rich collection of knowledge-based resources already exists in Asia for DRM and resilience building, both at policy and practice levels, many of which are deemed applicable in the African context, and vice versa. Yet much of this potential remains unrealized, in part due to lack of formalized institutional mechanisms to promote south-south cooperation and exchange across the regions.
In order to help link knowledge producers and users beyond regional boundaries, AADP aims to establish a robust, yet flexible, inter-regional network for DRM, building on the pool of experiences and expertise of the ongoing African Drought Risk and Development Network (ADDN) initiative. The network will work closely with ongoing and upcoming UNDP/non-UNDP programmes and projects and provide them with a variety of peer learning and capacity development support, based on their specific thematic priorities, operational gaps and capacity needs.

Apiário

Apiário is a platform to promote social business for greater efficiency in support of emergency situations in Brazil.
A call to action is promoted for young social entrepreneurs, to implement projects that help solving problems in emergency and risky situations in Brazil. The platform takes place under the organizational environment, to foster social business entrepreneurs to implement different links needed to support an excellent management of natural disasters in Brazil, facilitated by groups of people and entities that can meet financial, technical and coaching demands.

Language:Spanish

How to participate:The entry shall be made only by completing the online form.
Each project must have a minimum of detail below:
- Personal details and motivations
- Brief description of the project
- Category and demand fulfilled
- Budget
- Expected Results

Asian Disaster Reduction Response Network

Their main aim is to promote coordination, information sharing and collaboration among NGOs and other stakeholders for effective and efficient disaster reduction and response in the Asia-Pacific region.

BCMIX - Business Continuity Management Information Exchange

BCMIX is a free and non-commercial virtual group created for professionals with a genuine interest in Business Continuity Management (BCM/BCP), Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP), COOP, Emergency Preparedness and Crisis Management.

Coastal area disaster mitigation efforts (CADME)

CADME is a coalition of twenty five voluntary organisations working together on disaster preparedness in coastal areas of Andhra pradesh and Orissa. Establishment of task force groups at each vulnerable village to mitigate the effects of Disasters is main intervention of CADME. So far as many as 521 taskforce groups have been formed in 480 vulnerable villages of coastal andhra and orissa. All these taskforce groups are well capacitated and disaster drills are held at regular intervals. The chief funtionary and Disaster manager/Chief trainer on Disaster preparedness, Mr. Meda Gurudutt Prasad is the recipient of UN SASAKAWA award for the year 2003/04.

Coastal Zone Community of Practice (CZCP)

The CZCP of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO; see http://www.earthobservations.org) brings together scientific and non-scientific experts in an effort to support coastal zone management through utilization of Earth observations and derived products. The CZCP focuses both on research and practical applications related to coastal zone management. A strong focus of the CZCP is on information for disaster risk management in the coastal zone.

Language:English

How to participate:If you would like to interact with the CZCP, e.g. express your interest, ask questions, comment on the web pages, become a member/contributor, or provide information, please, use the forms available at http://www.czcp.org/you_and_the_CZCP

Disaster Grads Listserv

Disaster Grads is an e-mail listserv for informal discussion and information sharing among undergraduate and graduate students who do research in the area of hazards and disasters. The discussion list is a great way to contact other students with similar interests and to ask for support and resources. Disaster Grads also regularly sends out calls for papers, announcements about assistantships and fellowships, and information on an assortment of programs, conferences, and workshops.
Disaster Grads currently has more than 700 subscribers with international representation from 24 countries around the world. Subscribers include students who are enrolled in many institutions and a variety of departments and graduate programs, such as geography, engineering, public health, sociology, and economics.

Disaster Preparedness Network (DPNet)

Established in 1996, the Disaster Preparedness Network (DP-Net) is envisioned as a loose association of individual organisations within the development sector in Nepal, which are concerned with disaster management.
The network aims to assist individuals and organisations to prepare for, and respond to and manage disaster should it strike. DP-Net works closely with Government of Nepal through its agencies, which are concerned with disaster preparedness and management. DP-Net complements the effort of these agencies to inform and prepare organisations and communities to deal effectively with disasters. DP-Net are concerned with natural disasters such as earthquake, floods, droughts and landslide. It will also cover disasters such as epidemic, flood and fire that occur often in towns and villages.
DP-Net work closely with the Government institutions but as facilitator to Disaster Preparedness activities in Nepal. Thus, DP-Net allows and encourages promoting effective coordination and communication as well developing knowledge management with its all stakeholders in Nepal.

DRM-Asia

Disaster Risk Management Asia (DRM-Asia) is an e-mail based Community of Practice (CoP) which was established in 2006 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The aim of the CoP knowledge sharing of DRM best practices, guidelines, lessons learned, information and resources across Asia-Pacific. Up until now, DRM-Asia has been an internal community for UNDP practitioners only. However, the community has now expanded its membership beyond UNDP, and hereby invites DRM practitioners from the following organizations to register with DRM-Asia:

In additon to the e-mail based Community of Practice, DRM-Asia has a virtual 'home' on the Solution Networks of Asia Pacific (SNAP) web portal. Many thanks for your cooperation and as DRM-Asia expands we look forward to your participation within the Community!

EU Exchange of Experts Programme and Financial Instrument

EU exchange of experts system is designed to complement a training programme tailored to the needs of civil protection interventions within the framework of the Community Mechanism for civil protection.
It is open to partners of the European Union civil protection mechanism including the candidate country Croatia and the European Economic Area (Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland).
The Community Mechanism consists of a series of elements and actions, which aim at facilitating both adequate preparedness and effective response at Community level.

Gender and Disaster Resilience Alliance (GDRA)

The Gender and Disaster Resilience Alliance (GDRA) brings together practitioners, academics, advocates, and policy makers in the United States to promote gender-responsive disaster risk reduction and emergency management at home. It is a sister network to the global Gender and Disaster Network, and welcome like-minded individuals, organizations, and networks working on US concerns.

Geohazards Community of Practice

The GHCP is a Community of Practice (CoP) supporting the Group on Earth Observations (GEO, http://www.earthobservations.org). The GHCP originated from the IGOS Geohazards Theme, which formed in the frame of the IGOS-Partnership.

The GHCP brings together groups and individuals involved in various aspects of geohazards, including research, monitoring and risk assessments, mitigation, and adaptation. The GHCP aims to provide a link between the broad geohazards community of practice and GEO in order to:
- ensure that the needs of this community are taken into account in the development of Global earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS),
- facilitate support and participation of this community in the building of GEOSS, and
- promote the use of GEOSS for geohazards-related applications.

The GHCP also provides a communication and coordinating platform for high level policy makers and the broader geohazards community.

Global Development Network (GDNet)

GDNet provides southern researchers with a space to profile their work and opportunities to engage with others working in development policy and practice including topics such as Disaster Risk Reduction or Climate Change Adaptation. The tools and services that it offers have been developed specifically to support researchers working in developing countries and to make their work known to an international audience.

The GDNet Knowledgebase is a comprehensive internet portal to development research produced in developing countries. Free to use, it features more than 16,500 research papers which are accompanied by clear conclusion based summaries. You can browse by topic through the GDNet Thematic Windows.

GDNet offers a range of journals services to address the difficulty faced by many researchers in the global south in accessing journal articles to support their research. GDNet facilitates access to journals and scholarly literature, providing researchers and research organizations in low and middle income countries with access to journals services that are normally only available to paying subscribers subject to terms of agreement with the service provider. Access is granted to eligible researchers who have registered a profile on the GDNet Knowledgebase.

Green Recovery and Reconstruction Toolkit (GRRT) CoP

The Green Recovery and Reconstruction Toolkit (GRRT) is a training program designed to increase awareness and knowledge of environmentally sustainable disaster response approaches. The GRRT is made of ten modules which are designed to be delivered in a one-day training workshop: (i) opportunities after disasters - introduction to green recovery and reconstruction; (ii) project design; (iii) monitoring and evaluation; (iv) environmental impact assessment tools and techniques; (v) green guide to strategic site selection and development; (vi) green guide to materials and the supply chain; (vii) green guide to construction; (viii) green guide to water and sanitation; (ix) green guide to livelihoods; and (x) green guide to disaster risk reduction and greening organizational operations.

Humanitarian Practice Network (HPN)

HPN is an independent forum for humanitarians to share and disseminate information, analysis and experience, We publish specialist resources for practitioners and policy makers alike and facilitate debate through regular events and the Online Exchange discussion forum.

IDRC Davos 2010 (networking)

IDRC Davos 2010 is a linked-in group of the connections acquired during the International Disaster and Risk Conference in Davos, 2010. The purpose of this group is to keep in touch with the colleagues and friends made during the IDRC Davos 2010 and to expand connections throughout the disaster and risk research community.

Media plays an important role in publicity of important and sensitive issues. Along with other media, social media has grown very fast recently and its popularity and acceptability is increasing day by day. The social media is very popular among youth and students. There are various interactive groups on different social media on socio-economic issues, which facilitate discussions and sharing of knowledge, experience and queries on related issues.

Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA) has been actively promoting issues relating to disasters and its management in recent years. This was done through various events and using different media.

Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA) has started an interactive group ‘Bihar Aapda Mitra’ on facebook which will add a new dimension to the publicity and awareness raising initiatives of BSDMA on disaster management.

Hon’ble Vice Chairman of Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA) Mr. Anil Kumar Sinha launched ‘Bihar Aapda Mitra’ group on facebook on 23 September 2013. This group will raise awareness about disaster management among common people, especially amongst youth and students.

How to participate:To become member of this group, one has to search for ‘Bihar Aapda Mitra’ on facebook and send request for joining or alternatively by going to https://www.facebook.com/groups/biharaapdamitra

Inter Agency Group - Odisha

In India, the eastern Indian state Odisha, is particularly vulnerable to multiple disasters. Due to its sub-tropical littoral location, the state is prone to tropical cyclones, storm surges and tsunamis. Its densely populated coastal plains are the alluvial deposits of its river systems. The rivers in these areas with heavy load of silt have very little carrying capacity, resulting in frequent floods, only to be compounded by breached embankments. In such a situation there was a need of coordination in disaster preparedness and response for building the capacity of disaster response.
Thus in March 2004, Inter Agency Group (IAG) - Odisha, got formally established to work inclose coordination with the Govt. and the civil society bodies. Its objective was to primarily provide assistance in the field of emergency response and also to foster a culture of promoting values for quality and accountability in disaster response. It also aimed to facilitate capacity building for preparedness at various levels, take lead for collective approach and support all initiatives taken up by Government or Non-Government bodies in the field ofdisaster management to develop models in the state.
IAG today is a consortium of 24 international agencies ensuring minimum humanitarian standards in disaster risk reduction and management with unified action and improved coordination in Odisha. It coordinates with INGOs, UN Agencies, Govt. Depts. like OdishaState Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), Revenue & Disaster Management Dept. at the state level and with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Sphere India at the national level. IAG Odisha supplements the effortsof Government in identifying information gaps, providing quality post-disaster assistance, and act as a state level reference center for knowledge management and technical resource. It facilitates inter and intra coordination, training and capacity building, information& knowledge management and common advocacy through a collaborative process for quality and accountability.

How to participate:Interested Humanitarian Organisation who are having Organisational Presence are encouraged to apply with a Membership form and Request Letter for membership

International Scientific Committee on Risk Preparedness (ICORP)

ICOMOS is the International Council on Monuments and Sites based in Paris and has more than 100 national committees and 20+ scientific Committees. The Scientific Committee on Risk Preparedness (ICORP) is dedicated towards the protection of cultural heritage (in tangible and intangible forms) from natural and human induced disasters as well as emergency preparedness, response and recovery following disasters. More than 60 Experts from around the world, who are members of this group are exclusively working in this area. ICORP along with UNESCO and ICCROM organized a special session on 'Heritage and Resilience' during GP2013.

Knowledge sharing platform on disaster risk reduction

DisasterPreparedness - ICIMOD.org - is a Knowledge Sharing Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction practitioners. The website is community driven, and mainly serves as a dynamic online repository for materials such as publications, reports, articles, links and news related to DRR.

We welcome you all to join our Group Mail which facilitates knowledge-networking among more than 400 DRR practitioners.

Learning from mega-disasters community of practice

Learning from Mega-Disasters Community of Practice (CoP) is a knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Exchange program that is established by the Government of Japan and the World Bank to collect and analyze information, data, and evaluations performed by academic and research institutions, nongovernmental organizations, government agencies, and the private sector, with the intent of sharing Japan’s knowledge on disaster risk management (DRM) and post disaster reconstruction with countries that are vulnerable to disasters. This CoP will serve as a venue where experts can share views, discuss new topics, upload documents and add comments and suggestions.

Canadian Risk and Disaster Network
This 'network' is designed to connect practitioners, academics, and public officials with interest in risk and disaster reduction across Canada and elsewhere. This effort is to promote collaboration, communication and intelligence on related topics.

Coastal Adaptation - planning to adapt to coastal climate change
This group is being developed by the IMCORE project partnership. This online tool is the final output of the IMCORE project and the most valuable learnings come from the real life experiences of 9 partnerships (ECNs) who have gone through the process of planning for adaptation in a broad range of contexts (and different “starting points”) through building the evidence required and the capacity of organisations and stakeholders, testing a variety of innovative tools and developing adaptation strategies.

Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in European Forestry
This group connects professionals working in forest research, forestry and the forest-based sector as well as in policy and decision making and in non-governmental organizations to discuss impacts of climate change and options for adaptation in European forestry. The discussion forum will serve as the place to ask questions, share recent information and discuss policy relevant matters.

AdaptAbility° Climate Adaptation Network Climate Change Professionals
AdaptAbility° is the international community of practice for sustainability, risk and disaster professionals working on or interested specifically in ADAPTATION and resilience to inevitable climate change impacts as a complementary strategy to global warming mitigation efforts. Sub-themes addressed include but are not limited to land use planning, infrastructure redesign, and disaster prevention.

Crisis, Emergency & Disaster Recovery Professionals
This group is intended to provide a network of Crisis, Emergency and Disaster Recovery Professionals to engage, share contacts and information, and provide assistance when needed.

Local Emergency Assessment Response Network (LEARN) is HEKS's Project in Indonesia. The LEARN is unique in its kind on Sumatra. LEARN is situated at an important interface of the Indonesian Disaster Risk Reduction (DRM) structure closing the gap between the local disaster management entities (BPBD), NGOs on the spot, community organizations and most importantly the affected communities. Despite the vast Indonesian DRR efforts, local and regional government officials do not yet have a sound enough knowledge of the complex issues regarding preparedness and emergency response in all its details and they are often too far from the grassroots level.
Moreover, due to the LEARN trainings aspects of preparedness and disaster risk reduction are integrated into the daily project work and the resilience of people at the lowest level can be strengthened. This is a particular advantage of the project as the community level has so far not been reached by the Disaster Management efforts of the Indonesian government. Experiences show that behaviour patterns regard-ing preparedness and the reaction to disaster situations only happens gradually and over time and re-quires continuous training, simulations and repetition in all parts of society. The knowledge about pre-paredness and the behaviour during and after disasters all over Indonesia has doubtlessly improved compared to the time before the devastating Tsunami in 2004 but is still in the beginning of a long pro-cedure. The development of reparedness strategies at the grassroots level is currently mainly supported by NGOs, hence, LEARN can contribute much to the strengthening of this process.
The following modules are incorporated in the twelve day LEARN training cycle:
Module 1: Introduction into the topics Emergency Response, Disaster Risk Reduction, Preparedness and Disaster Management and the LEARN Approach
Module 2: Preparedness and mitigation measures before a disaster occurs
Module 3: Safety and Security
Module 4: First Aid in Disasters
Module 5: Risk Analysis
Module 6: Rapid Needs Assessment - Reporting
Module 7: Communication - Technical Know How - Equipment use
Module 8: Emergency WASH and Shelter
Module 9: Psychology – Coping with Stress and Trauma Basics
Module 10: Logistics – Distribution – Proposals
Module 11: Evacuation
Module 12: Design and implement disaster management trainings and community based disaster management plans
There are 8 cycle of training for 75 NGOs in Sumatra.

National Humanitarian Network - NHN Sindh

Mission

The mission of the NHN is to “voice the concerns and advocate for the vulnerable and disaster affected communities for improving policies, procedures and strengthening institutions for rights based disaster mitigation and humanitarian response, and to strengthen the role and capacities of national and local humanitarian actors in setting humanitarian and sustainable development agendas and humanitarian action in Pakistan”.

Objectives

• To act as an institution that engages with all stakeholders that represent National / local NGOs/Civil Society through efficient and effective coordination mechanism
• To conduct evidence based policy advocacy for pre, during and post Humanitarian crisis (disaster preparedness/ mitigation / management issues)
• Facilitate all stakeholders in capacity building to promote community based disaster risk management, emergency response and action.
• To help in organizing and facilitating to make responsive and accountable civil society for humanitarian response and disaster risk management.
• Advocate for and promote empowered partnership in, based on GHP’s agreed principles of partnership and new business model to develop local capacities in humanitarian action.

How to participate:Membership Criteria
Only organizations could become members who are:
• Registered legal entities.
• Prior experience in the area of humanitarian and disaster risk management (DRM) and have clear strategic objectives in humanitarian and DRM

National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD)

National VOAD supports the coordination of planning efforts by voluntary organizations responding to disaster. Member organizations provide more effective and less duplicative service by getting together before disasters strike. Once disasters occur, National VOAD, or an affiliated State or U.S. Territory VOAD, encourages members and other voluntary agencies to convene on site. This cooperative effort has proven to be the most effective way for a wide variety of volunteers and organizations to work together in a crisis.

Language:English

How to participate:

There are two types of members in National VOAD: National Members, State/Territory VOADs.

To join the VOAD movement as a National Member simply review membership criteria and application information by clicking on the National Member tab above. If interested in applying for National VOAD Membership, please contact the National VOAD office at 703-778-5088 or email info@nvoad.org.

Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR)

The Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR) is a global partnership comprised of UN agencies, international and regional NGOs as well as specialist institutes that collectively aim to influence policy, enhance implementation and better coordinate efforts in environmental management for disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and sustainable livelihoods. It promotes ecosystems management as the key strategy to reduce disaster risk, increase local resilience and adapt to a changing climate. As a global thematic platform of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) system, PEDRR works to reduce underlying risk factors related to the environment and mainstreams ecosystems-based DRR in development planning processes at global, regional, national and local levels.

Probability, Uncertainty and Risk in the Environment (PURE)

PURE has two elements: the PURE Network and the PURE Programme:
PURE Network

The PURE Network is a research and knowledge exchange network, to stimulate good practice guidance and the standardization of the assessment and quantification of uncertainty and risk across natural hazards science. The network will achieve this by bringing together researchers, industrialists and policy-makers through collaborative working and knowledge exchange. The network will help to shape the direction of future research and provide valuable information to practitioners in environmental risk management.

The network is hosted on the Technology Strategy Board's Connect-me platform which is open to all to join.

PURE Programme

The PURE Programme is a four year research programme which will run from 2012 until 2016. The aim of the programme is to improve the assessment and quantification of uncertainty and risk in natural hazards by developing new methods and demonstrating their applicability to enhance the uptake of natural hazards science.

A consortium group will deliver the programme and will focus on the following priority hazards:

- Academia, industry and government will benefit hugely from the sharing of techniques and methods used to quantify risk and uncertainty in natural hazards science.

What will PURE achieve?

Outputs:

- Enhanced interaction between industry, academia, Government Departments and Research Councils.

- The opening up of new commercial opportunities for UK businesses in the financial services and insurance sectors.

- Good practice user guidance for flooding.

- A web-based Knowledge Portal which willact as a directory of research and data for users of research. The Knowledge Portal may also contain an experimental zone where techniques and knowledge can be shared.

Outcomes:

- Good practice guidance and standardisation of uncertainty and risk assessment and quantification across the natural hazards community.

- Greater clarity and consensus about the most appropriate methods to quantify uncertainty and risk in natural hazards science.

- New and improved methods, tools and benchmarks for quantifying and assessing uncertainty and risk in natural hazards developed, accepted, disseminated and used.

Impacts:

- Improved assessment and quantification of uncertainty and risk in natural hazards science and also in other scientific areas.

Radix - Radical Interpretations of Disaster

Radix is meant as a home for discussion, working papers, opinion pieces, resources, links that can help to develop radical interpretations of and radical solutions for all disasters in all parts of planet earth.
Radix welcomes any material that proposes to deal with fundamental issues such as human rights, respect for diversity, translation of available knowledge into action, the links among disasters, economic development, and politics. Recent discussions have focused on climate change, governance and other related topics.

Solution Exchange India: Disaster management community

This learning and knowledge sharing community aims to reduce disaster risk to sustain development gains in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This is done by leveraging the knowledge, experience and energies of development practitioners towards problem solving. It is a group of professionals from a wide range of organizations and disciplines concerned with preparedness, mitigation, response, recovery and rehabilitation issues with respect to disasters (natural and human induced). It is intended for disaster management practitioners in India.
Solution Exchange connects the members of this Community and increases the effectiveness of their individual efforts by helping them share and apply each other’s knowledge and experience. Through Solution Exchange, Disaster Management professionals can turn to their peers across India for solutions to the day-to-day challenges they face.

Language:English

How to participate:Sign up through the website or write us at: nupur.arora@undp.org

The disaster diary project

An online space to share ideas, commentaries, experiences and perspectives about DRR and thereby encourgae public conversations about processes which can lead to the manufacture of disaster risk. Individuals who wish to contribute regularly are provided with their own blog space, and those who cannot commit to regular contributions may also comment on the webside through "open spaces".

Towards a Safer World (TASW)

TASW is a multi-stakeholder network of practitioners on whole of society preparedness for pandemics and comparable threats, led by the UN System.

The TASW Network is a diverse group of energetic and expert practitioners from a variety of sectors, organisations and countries demonstrating how they have initiated whole-of-society preparedness for pandemic and related threats. They commit to maintaining and refining the best practices they have developed, and agree to communicate it widely, mainstream it within institutions, sustain it, reach out and engage others who might benefit from it, and to continue to learn from each other. They opt to maintain contact through a network that includes a broad range of partners from government, business, civil society, research groups and the military – from five continents.

It builds on the significant investments and broad participation in pandemic preparedness since 2005, which have generated many practical lessons and innovations - relevant not only for improving responses to health crises, but also for strengthening societal resilience in the face of other major threats.

TASW Network promotes key good practices include (i) coordination of multi-actor networks, including professionals from business, Government and civil society, (ii) planning for the maintenance of critical services, (iii) implementation of communication strategies, (iv) simulations to test and validate contingency plans, (v) mobilization of funds for preparedness and (vi) development of tools for measuring preparedness.

This periodic newsletter provides TASW network members with an opportunity to share recent activities, case studies and developments that may be of wider interest.